Sara Duterte impeachment trial Day 20: Army officers deny certifying DepEd's confidential fund spending 

Day 20 of the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte started with Senate impeachment court presiding officer Francis Escudero saying that the pictures circulating on social media supposedly showing hostile witness and Assistant Secretary Lemuel Ortonio wearing an earpiece, were generated using artificial intelligence (AI).

In addition, Escudero reminded the parties that every witness "must testify solely from his or her own knowledge, free from coaching or influence from counsel or any other person."

Army colonels Manaros Boransing II and Magtanggol Panopio denied that they issued certifications attesting to the propriety of the Department of Education’s P15 million confidential fund spending in 2023.

In separate testimonies before the witness stand, Boransing and Panopio said such certifications were only issued to attest to the successful conduct and attendance of participants in the Youth Leadership Seminar and Information Education Campaign, not to testify on any expenditure.

While Boransing and Panopio both said that they were not aware that their certification would be used by the DepEd to liquidate confidential funds, they had varying reactions once they were made aware of the purpose. Boransing said he had no reaction as he was busy with other more important matters, while Panopio was somehow surprised.

Panopio also testified that the "confidential" information provided by the DepEd in relation to the conduct of the abovementioned youth activities may have included data on teenage pregnancy and the personal life of students.

Defense counsel Sheila Sison countered that these certifications were made by the military with full knowledge that it would cover “any legal purpose it may serve.”

Senator-judge Vicente “Tito” Sotto III did not question Boransing and Panopio but made a manifestation that an alias may be used as a pseudonym for entertainment purposes, but if there is no actual person behind the name, it could be considered a “fictitious name” or “fake name.”

He cited Republic Act No. 6085, which regulates the use of aliases.

“It’s only allowed in the Philippines for pseudonyms, solely for literary, cinema, television and other entertainment purposes. Therefore, if there is a person behind the alias, then it is an alias,” he said.

This was the same point raised by private prosecutor Mae Divinagracia when she was being asked by Senator-judge Robin Padilla last week if she is aware that Philippine revolutionary heroes also used aliases.

Divinagracia tried to explain to Padilla that the use of aliases is a non-issue for the prosecution because the prosecution’s impeachment case against the Vice President did not allege that the names of confidential fund recipients were aliases, but Padilla quickly cut her off by arguing that it cannot be a non-issue because it was the prosecution who was putting forward the unusual names.

It was former OVP special disbursing officer Gina Acosta who earlier testified that the unusual names of recipients of the confidential fund of the OVP, as stated in its acknowledgement receipt submitted to state auditors, which included Timon Pusa, Miggy Mango, Antonio Pagong, among others, might have been aliases.

Also on Day 20, Escudero reminded his colleague, Senate Minority Leader Alan Cayetano, that the burden of proof always lies with the prosecution as accusers in this case, after Cayetano suggested that presumption can shift depending on the evidence presented.

“For the record, to clarify, the burden of proof never shifts. The burden of evidence may shift, but the burden of proof does not. The burden of proof still lies with the prosecution, but depending on how the issue is presented, the burden of evidence may shift, but the burden of proof never shifts,” Escudero said.

The House prosecution team then said that given the testimony of the Army colonels, the Vice President’s camp is clearly lying about how it spent its P15.5 million DepEd confidential fund allocation.

As this developed, defense team lawyer and former DepEd Undersecretary Michael Poa stepped down from his post as spokesperson.

This is because Poa is expected to take the witness stand, being the one who asked for military certifications to justify the DepEd’s P15.5 million confidential fund expenses in 2023 that were used to pay for rewards to informants. —LDF, GMA News